Friday, June 26, 2009

My 30th Year

Year #30 ended today as I was born 31 years ago, today, at 3:45 AM. Ironically, I was awake this morning at 3:45 (since I drank several glasses of pink lemonade while celebrating my birthday with GCT friends at Austin's), so I acknowledged my birthday on the exact minute.

My 30th year was one of, if not the, best year of my life. To demonstrate how great year #30 was, it must be compared to year 29. During my 29th year, I was diagnosed with infertility, had a potential adopted son stillborn and had another potential birth mom stand us up. At Christmas that year, I had a meltdown watching Facing the Giants. On top of everything else, I spent my 29th year mourning the loss of my 20's. Erin said I basically turned 30 a year early, since I spent that entire year calling myself a 30 year old man.

My 30th year didn't start that well, though. 30 isn't really too old, not to me anyway, but it felt really old to still not have kids. My biological clock was ticking as loudly as Edger Allen Poe's Telltale Heart. But things started to change that September, when I got a call from a friend in the theatre telling us her niece was pregnant and wanted to place the baby in an adoptive family. To review the entire story, click on the adoption labels.

My 30th year was the year in which I received the greatest gift I could ever be given, the gift of a child. Dawson's the best birthday present I could ever ask for and he makes me feel younger. It's not that my knees don't still ache after I run or my hair isn't getting progressively thinner, it's just that I'm a dad now and that makes me feel quite youthful. Dawson did also give me a special birthday present - two full diapers. He's such a thoughtful kid.

I can understand why the Hebrew people in the Old Testament believed eternal life came through having children (they didn't have much of an idea of heaven, not like what we see in the New Testament). But I digress...

I spent the 2 months of my 30th year anticipating fatherhood and the last 4 months of my 30th year as Dawson's daddy. Of course, we had some other great things happen this past year, too but combined they still aren't as great.